


Goodnight, Office

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s04e10 Arctic Radar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-04-26
Updated: 2003-04-26
Packaged: 2019-05-31 03:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15110873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Sam says goodbye to his world.





	Goodnight, Office

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Goodnight, Office**  
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Sam  
**Category(s):** POST-EP: Arctic Radar  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own them. It's like Goodnight, Moon, only with Sam.  
**Summary:** Sam says goodbye to his world.  
**Author's Note:** Potential tear-warning (if you're already sad about Sam's departure, have kleenex handy) 

Goodnight, office. 

Goodnight Newton's Cradle, with the rhythm to work by. 

Goodnight bookshelf, holding the law books I relied upon so much. 

Goodnight window, which I covered for a year and some. 

Goodnight desk on which I wrote four State of the Unions. 

Goodnight coatrack, which faithfully held my coat, covered in snow from the frozen Washington. 

Goodnight eagle statue. 

Goodnight thesaurus. 

Goodnight box of pens and legal pads. We made beautiful music together. 

Goodnight chess set, which put this whole idea in my head. "You'll run for president one day - don't be scared; you can do it." The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, a single...shot-in-the-dark election. But if that's the case, why am I scared? He said I shouldn't be, but I am, it's... terrifying. 

Goodnight photographs of a different world - of Lisa, of Josh before he was my coworker and when he was free to be a friend, of my parents together before they knew how divided they were, of. 

Goodnight telephone, on which I heard so much bad news and still some good. 

Goodnight chairs, in which everyone from the President to lobbyists to Congress-members to Congressional aides to Lisa to Dr. Millgate have sat. 

Goodnight window, where Toby bounced a ball to summon me. 

Goodnight flag; to thine own self be true. Too bad the motto doesn't always work out. 

Goodnight vitamin bottles - it started to stay healthy, then became a sort of vain attempt to counter-act the twenty-hour work days I never complained about, then aspirin was added to the mix for my aching head with the pain that never dulls. 

Goodnight, office. 

Goodnight Toby's office, where I had my speeches ripped apart. 

Goodnight bullpen, where I demeaned Ainsley unintentionally and got up off the dirt. 

Goodnight poster. You used to belong to Josh, until Toby plastered it up on the wall out here so Josh wouldn't stare at it every day. It just meant we had to look at it the whole time. 

Goodnight hallway, where we had conversations covering everything under the sun. 

Goodnight Roosevelt Room, where I made a fool of myself in front of schoolchildren and Mallory, where we had countless meetings on countless subjects, where I stood once just admiring the President's Nobel prize. 

Goodnight long, yellow hallway. 

Goodnight lobby, where Indians held a quiet protest and we had turkeys delivered to CJ, where I walked to and from seemingly endlessly to greet people and take them to my office. Where I got used to scanning myself in and feeling important before getting to my office and realizing how dispensable I really was. 

Goodnight CJ's office. If you and Carol ever decide to actually do the thing you talked about, call me and I'll be back. 

Goodnight press room, where the animals tried to tear the life out of each and every one of us; where Josh created a secret plan to fight inflation; where CJ said what we all WANTED to say and got in trouble for it; where she spoke for all of us when we all couldn't - after we'd been shot at, after wins and losses, after the president made a bold statement while still dripping with rain. 

Goodnight Margaret's desk. Manifest Destiny. 

Goodnight, Leo's office, where we held countless meetings and he called me a great mind of my generation, where Mallory was impressed with me after being ready to kill me. 

Goodnight Oval Office. I spent two years to get used to standing in there without feeling like falling over from the sheer implications of what we were doing. Where I realized this summer how little I really know, how smart Josh really is. Where I tried to cure cancer and get the President to speak out against a crappy book, where I wanted to go and rant after I was left out. 

I wonder if maybe it would've made a difference in the long-run. Changed the last year. 

Goodnight, Mural Room, where I got my first kiss from Mallory, screwed over a friend, and almost burnt down the White House with Josh. 

Goodnight, office. Again. 

Goodnight Donna's desk. Keep Josh on his toes, okay? 

Goodnight Josh's office, with the blackboard and fruit, where it seemed like my friend would flit in and out of, sometimes being replaced with a brilliant political mind who did what he had to in order to win. 

Maybe all our offices were like that. 

Goodnight clocks that no one could quite figure out to read. 

Goodnight security guard who sits in the lobby. 

Goodnight Northwest Exit. 

Goodnight, White House, where we learned what brilliant and stupid people we could be, where I found a writing rhythm and my own naÃ¯vete, where I lost my fiancee and my confidence and my innocence, but where I gained so much more than words can ever express. 

Goodnight, Washington, with all your corruption and sleaziness. See you soon, I hope. 

Hello, California, my homeland. 


End file.
